


Orientation

by LtLJ



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-01-28
Updated: 2007-01-28
Packaged: 2017-10-03 12:48:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LtLJ/pseuds/LtLJ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rodney flung his hands in the air. "Oh, come on! Carson would never let that happen. If someone's going to experiment on you, he'd want it to be him. Ow!" he added, outraged, as Teyla slapped him across the back of the head with her half-empty pack. "What was that for?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Orientation

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the International Where Did I Get That Bruise Challenge!

Atlantis was expecting their check-in in about six hours, but the Ancient pulse-field or whatever the hell it was had taken out their radios. John didn't want another jumper flying unwarned into this area, especially a jumper piloted by another natural Ancient gene carrier, and Ronon thought he could make it back to the gate before the check-in time. So John sent him off, told Teyla to keep an eye on Rodney, then crawled into the back of the cave to die.

"Colonel," Teyla said, from the entrance, "John. I know this is upsetting, but you need to come out."

"Not really," John told her. Besides, now that he had gotten back here, he didn't think he could find the way out again. The cave had a low roof and was fairly narrow, but that didn't help. John could see the direction he wanted to go in, but it was like his body was on a whole different continent, being operated by faulty radio signals. Every thing he did was in the wrong direction, the wrong muscle movement. It had been hard enough getting up here from the Ancient stone circle-thing, which they had been in the middle of investigating when it had suddenly emitted the pulse field, buried the jumper, and destroyed the radios as well as some important part of John's brain. He couldn't walk without lurching in the wrong direction and falling over something, if he sat down he fell over, if he stood still he fell over. Closing his eyes made it worse. Even lying here, curled around a handy rock, the cave seemed to be looping like a roller coaster. At least holding onto the rock kept him from feeling as if he was about to fall off the floor and hit the ceiling.

Before Ronon left, John had tried ordering all three of them to leave for the gate without him. Ronon had stared at him thoughtfully, then poked him in the shoulder, and John had fallen over. Now John told Teyla, "Go wait with Rodney, that's an order."

He didn't hear Teyla leaving. He had to admit that the words "that's an order" didn't carry a lot of weight coming from a man in a fetal position with a rock in the back of a cave. Then she said, "John--"

"No."

After that things got a little vague. This, whatever this was, made it hard to take in any kind of sensory input. Theoretically, John knew he was lying on cold stone, in a narrow crevice of a cave in a rock face above a flat terrace where lately a collection of Ancient stone pillars had stood. That it was a cold damp day with a cloudy gray sky. That the pillars were now rubble, most of which was half-burying their jumper. But in reality, it was just him and the rock.

Then he heard voices, Teyla speaking urgently, and Rodney replying, "What? Oh, for the-- Just go in there, get him in a headlock, and drag him out."

John warily tightened his grip on the rock.

  
***

  
Teyla gritted her teeth. "I do not want to make it worse. He is in there because he does not want us to see him like this. He will not listen to me, perhaps he will listen to you."

"Oh, fine." Rodney shed his pack, and stooped to peer into the back part of the cave. He knew Sheppard had a right to be upset, but he could still talk, think, and calculate velocity in his head, his eyes were focusing and there was nothing wrong with his permanent or temporary memory. "I thought we all agreed it was probably something to do with his inner ear and it would wear off on its own?"

"Yes, we did, now get in there and be comforting." Teyla gave him an unnecessary shove.

Swearing under his breath, Rodney crawled the short distance into the cave. Sheppard was wedged into the smallest part, and from the dim gray light from the entrance, all Rodney could see was boots and his knees. Rodney said, "You know this is ridiculous."

"Leave me alone, Rodney," Sheppard said, his voice muffled.

Rodney wriggled around, trying to find a comfortable place to sit on the rough stone. "Look, we all know I'm not one to make light of physical injuries, but you don't know that this is permanent. It could wear off in fifteen minutes."

"Then I'll come out in fifteen minutes."

Rodney sighed in exasperation. "You know you're being completely irrational, right? The first aid manual said that one of the symptoms of inner ear injuries was irrationality."

Sheppard said pointedly, "That was irritability and it was for ear infections."

Rodney rolled his eyes. Granted, the first aid manual hadn't been too helpful, considering there was no section on sudden inexplicable balance disorders caused by mysterious energy fields. "When Beckett gets here, he's just going to have someone stun you and drag you out."

Teyla, pulling rations and foil blankets out of her pack, glared at him.

"What?" Rodney demanded. "Like he doesn't know that. You know that, right?" he added to Sheppard.

Sheppard lifted his head and glared at Rodney, or at least the rock next to Rodney. With the spiky black hair even more disheveled than ever, and his eyes green in the dim light, he looked like an angry feral elf. "Rodney, if this doesn't go away, go away _completely_, I can't fly. If it stays this bad, I'll get sent back to Earth, to sit in a hospital and be somebody's experimental test case in curing Ancient brain injuries."

Rodney flung his hands in the air. "Oh, come on! Carson would never let that happen. If someone's going to experiment on you, he'd want it to be him. Ow!" he added, outraged, as Teyla slapped him across the back of the head with her half-empty pack. "What was that for?"

"I needed to express myself somehow," Teyla said tightly. She took a sharp breath. "John, if that happens, they would not take you back to Earth. We would think of something."

Rodney turned back to Sheppard. "Look, Colonel, this mission has been a complete disaster and I have to point out, you have no right to die in this cave, no matter how well it might fit into your plans for the future! And you're scaring the hell out of us!" That was the point where Rodney realized it was true. The pulse had done something to Sheppard, and no matter how firmly they assured each other that it would wear off, it was fucking frightening and until Carson got here they wouldn't have a clue how bad it was, and that would be hours yet. "We're not asking you to pretend like everything is fine, just come out here so we can at least...I don't know what!"

There was a long moment of silence. Teyla bit her lip, watching Sheppard hopefully. Finally Sheppard stirred reluctantly, shoving himself up and holding out a hand. Rodney lunged forward with Teyla, they both grabbed Sheppard and dragged him out. Sheppard rolled into a sitting position, blinked, said, "I can't--" and then fell over. Rodney caught him, tried to ease him down. Sheppard tried to help, and after a little inadvertent wrestling match, Rodney ended up with Sheppard hunched over and collapsed in his lap. "Oof," Rodney commented a little breathlessly. "I'm going to assume that punch in the stomach was accidental."

"Sorry," Sheppard muttered.

"Just rest," Teyla told him, smiling with relief. "Ronon will be back with the others soon."

After that, they sat and waited. Rodney kept one eye on the life signs detector, and Teyla went out to scout the area, returning to say that the slope below the terrace showed no more signs of collapse. "Most of the loose rock is on top of the jumper," she reported ruefully.

Sheppard was tense at first, keeping a death grip on Rodney's jacket, because apparently holding onto something helped with the vertigo. But he gradually relaxed, warm and heavy in Rodney's lap, one bony shoulder poking Rodney in the thigh. When he shifted, stubbled cheek scratching against the back of Rodney's wrist, Rodney got very distracted and ended up telling Teyla about his latest experiment in tuning the puddlejumper's shield generators, in probably more detail than she wanted to know.

Finally, after a couple of hours Rodney said, "I need to take some readings. If the energy has dissipated by now, they might be able to bring a jumper in here." He motioned to Sheppard. "Can you...?"

Teyla nodded, shifted over to Rodney's side. "Here, hand him to me."

Sheppard twitched when Rodney started to lift him and Rodney said quickly, "We're moving you, for God's sake don't try to help."

"Okay," Sheppard said, then set up abruptly, almost managing to clip Rodney's chin with the back of his head. He looked around blearily. "I think it's a little better."

"Really?" Rodney exchanged a hopeful look with Teyla. "We told you it would wear off."

"Yeah. Everything's not quite so...messed up." Sheppard started to sway again, and Rodney caught his shoulders.

"Perhaps you should still rest," Teyla said, watching him anxiously.

"I'm kind of tired," Sheppard admitted, then went limp in Rodney's arms.

Rodney got Sheppard deposited in Teyla's lap, managed to unfold his numb legs and unlock his cramped back, then went outside to scan the area. It was raining lightly, and the sight of the jumper under the pile of rock and gravel, with what remained of the Ancient site, was depressing. But the energy field was dissipating, though the radio still wouldn't work. Rodney returned, gratefully crawling back into the mostly dry cave.

Sheppard was inert in Teyla's lap, face buried against her midriff, one hand knotted in her jacket. Rodney asked worriedly, "How is he?"

Teyla smiled. "He is asleep."

Rodney sat down beside her. "Are you sure? He's breathing, right?"

"He is snoring."

"Good, good. That's probably for the best." He hesitated. "So, you think he was a little..." Rodney tapped his head significantly.

"I think he was more confused than he was willing to admit." Teyla looked down at Sheppard, fondly exasperated. "He does not like us to see him hurt, perhaps because he feels he has disappointed us."

Rodney snorted. "That's ridiculous."

She shrugged a little.

Rodney frowned, considering it. "So what do we do about that?"

She shook her head regretfully. "Nothing."

Ronon must have run like a gazelle, because not long later, the life signs detector pinged, and it was Beckett and Lorne's team approaching cautiously on foot.

  
**end**


End file.
